Fight the Dead Fear the Living
by NormansDarylD
Summary: AU in which the Dixon's have a younger sister named Kate. Follow her adventure as she fights through the aftereffects of the Outbreak. Walking Dead with Boondock Saints references later. Rated T in the beginning. It becomes more towards M later, as smut, violence, and gore will not be exempt from the story. Feel free to submit reviews!
1. The Beginning of the End

Blood. There was blood everywhere. These things used to be human, but they sure bled more than any other human witnessed. The blood was unreal, their gray skin was gory, and their putrid smell would make even the most unhygienic folks gag. The worst part was that they were once the people you loved. It could be a parent, spouse, child, sibling, or friend. They're now nothing but Walkers, shadows of who they once were. They were the walking dead.

Two days ago, the world was overrun by a plague. The disease caused the dead to return as flesh-eating monsters, not remembering anything about who they were. They don't remember the people that they knew in their life; the only thing they understood anymore was the scent of human flesh, and their uncontrollable desire to devour it. If one felt sympathy towards the diseased, they would end up dead. Some believed that there would be a cure, some type of vaccine to get rid of the "Walkers". But these things were already dead. You shoot it in the heart, it still comes at you. Rip its head off and it'll still try to bite you. Rip it in half and it will drag itself towards you. These things no longer felt any pain. The only way to kill it was by destroying the brain. Kate learned that the hard way.

The first day of the Outbreak was painful for Kate. She had woken up in the house that she grew up in, no sign of Merle or Daryl anywhere. It was normal for them to be out of the house in the morning. Merle was usually either getting high or finding some girl to bring home for the night. Daryl enjoyed the woods and usually hunts so they'd be able to eat. Kate was always out late at night in order to break into stores to steal supplies, so there was no need for her to be out in the morning. She always slept in. The absence of her siblings was normal to her. The abnormal thing was the commotion outside. Kate sat up, clad in only a gray tank top and shorts, and got out of bed. She walked slowly towards the window and gasped at the chaos outside.

People were shooting each other, the military stormed in, shooting. Kate didn't understand what was going on until she saw a man kneeling over a woman, ripping at her gut and shoving his face into her bleeding abdomen, devouring her insides. The woman screamed at first, and then her cries died down as she faded into death. "Shit…" Kate ran over to her dresser, pulling on clothes. She quickly put on a sleeveless black vest, dark skinny jeans, combat boots, and her fingerless gloves. Kate froze when she heard footsteps outside of her bedroom door. She looked over her shoulder and saw her door slowly open, a deep growling emitting from behind it. She quickly slipped underneath the bed, holding her breath in order to remain silent.

Someone entered the room, but they weren't normal. They moved with only their right foot, their left one dragging behind them pitifully. The calf on their left leg was chewed on, the bone showing through the torn fragments of their pants. Kate waited under the bed while the Walker roamed the room. Realizing that it wasn't going to leave, Kate inched over to the opposite side of the bed, where her knife lay strapped to the side of the bed. She slipped out from underneath the bed, silently grabbing her knife, gripping it at the hilt. She stood up behind the Walker and approached it. Once she got close enough, she shoved the blade of the knife into its spine, striking it through the heart. She pushed it away afterwards, her breathing scattered. Kate turned around, and her heart sank when she heard the growling again. The Walker grabbed at Kate's hair, yanking her head back. She yelled out and reached behind to grab it's wrist as she turned around and twisted its arm in an attempt to knock it to the ground. She heard a sickening crunch as it's arm dislocated from its shoulder. It reached out and grabbed at Kate's ankle, pulling her to the ground. "Fuck…" She kicked it in the head multiple times, crawling towards the corner of the room quickly. She reached into the floorboard, pulling a few up. She pulled out her father's gun and loaded it, shooting the Walker in the head. It collapsed onto the floor, no longer moving. Kate was breathing heavily as she took in what just happened. She peeked outside the window and saw more Walkers walking towards the house, having been attracted by the sound of the gun. Kate quickly got up, grabbed her bow and quiver. She walked over to the dead Walker and pulled out her knife before running to the floorboards to get more ammo. The front door of the house was crowded with Walkers, so Kate couldn't use that way. She ran to the back door, noticing that it was clear with the exception of a few Walkers near the forest behind her house. She took a deep breath and sprinted to the nearest tree, jumping up, grabbing a branch, and swinging herself onto the nearest branch. She jumped from tree to tree until the Walkers weren't so crowded. She jumped back onto the ground, planning on going to the hunting store from which she got her bow.

Kate walked through the forest, avoiding the Walkers. She was freaked out about how that previous Walker didn't die after she stabbed it in the heart. She had already figured out that a headshot was needed to kill the geeks, but she didn't want any more surprises. When she finally arrived at the hunting store, she was relieved that it wasn't as chaotic as the others that she passed. The grocery stores were packed with people grabbing for food at the last minute. Kate didn't need food; she knew how to hunt, picking up a few tricks from Daryl. But she was nowhere close to Daryl's level when it came to survival. She knew the basics, but she'll need supplies. Kate ran inside, grabbing a new set of arrows and a backpack. She put a few things inside, such as a water bottle and rope. Once she was done, she ran out, avoiding the herds of Walkers now filling the streets.

"Daryl…Merle…Where _are _you?" Kate sat against a tree, her head in her hands, trying to think of what to do. Part of her wanted to go back to see if her brothers were there, but the rational part of her told her that that would lead her to her doom. In the back of her mind, she feared that one or both of them had been attacked and devoured by one of the geeks, but she couldn't acknowledge the fear. She had to focus on one thing only: surviving.

For days, Kate traveled deeper into the forest, using her bow to hunt for food. Killing the Walkers got easier. They were attracted to sound, so Kate used her old arrows to take them down. She used her newer ones for hunting. She didn't want to get Walker blood in her game. Kate wasn't the best at hunting, she got by, but sometimes she'd go for a day or two without food. She could hear Daryl teasing her, "What? 's getting' too hard now?" She missed her brothers.

Kate had lost hope of surviving. "Least 's better ta die this way than bein' eaten alive by one of 'em geeks…"

The youngest Dixon had traveled from a suburban town all the way to the outskirts of Atlanta, Georgia. She had located a camp set up by a few people, they were residing there. Struck by hunger, Kate snuck into the RV parked by the camp and took some food from the cabinets. She ran back into the forest and opened up the canned food with her knife, devouring it, moaning in pleasure at the feeling of food in her system.

Kate had dubbed this group the "Atlanta group", not knowing what else to call them. She didn't trust them, so she never joined them, but she'd always occasionally steal some food and supplies to ensure her own survival. These people were capable, they'd fetch their own water, and one of them even had the hunting skill to be able to track down deer and kill it for meat. That one reminded Kate of Daryl, and her heart felt pained for a while. "'m gon' find ya again…both of ya..I promise."


	2. Git yer stupid fuckin' doll

_**A/N: Sorry it took so long to update! The title of the chapter is a Boondock Saint's reference. Feel free to submit reviews!**_

Over the last few weeks, Kate learned a few things. One that she had the dearest trouble with hunting; Daryl used to track game fairly easily and Kate followed behind, constantly accusing Daryl of getting them lost, but of course that never actually happened. The only thing that Kate could do was sit up in a tree until she saw an animal run past. She'd shoot it and then cook it later. If she saw an animal standing still, she could sneak up on it and kill it, but if it noticed her and ran away, it was gone for good.

The other lesson she learned was that if she was completely alone, there were no people to steal from. She spent a few weeks stealing from a group camped on the outskirts of Atlanta, but one night they got attacked by a herd of Walkers. Kate got frightened and fled the scene, leaving the group to the Walkers. When she returned two days later, they were gone. Her main food and supply source was now gone, and so she was left to fend for herself.

It wasn't that hard at first. She stocked up on what little food she had left that she stole from the group, eating that only when she couldn't hunt down a rabbit or squirrel to eat. Occasionally, she got hold of a buck, which would provide her with venison for a few days. She refrained from using her gun, as the sound attracted the Walkers, so ammo supply was plentiful. Kate was always more comfortable staying in the woods, so survival wasn't a problem. Eventually it grew tiring. She had no shelter for whenever there were storms. She could never get a good night's sleep, sleeping up in the trees with the threat of falling down into the clutches of the Walkers always clouding her mind. Days passed, and she was exhausted.

Kate would come out of the forest occasionally to see if there were any signs of human life around her, but there were none. She eventually passed a highway, filled with cars, but all the passengers were dead. Relieved to finally see a source of supplies, she raided the cars for food and water. That was her source of materials for a few days. When she got chased away by a herd of Walkers, she stayed away from the high way, running around in the forest again. In the forest, there weren't a lot of Walkers, just a few roaming around. When they were in small numbers, they were manageable. However when they were in giant groups, Kate couldn't take them all, and there was no point in wasting her arrows.

She wandered the woods, further from the highway, growing weary with exhaustion underneath the blazing sun. The trees protected her from most of the sun's rays, but the humidity was high, which didn't help Kate's condition. She stumbled through the woods, coated with sweat. It had been a while since she got sleep since she was too afraid that she was waking going to wake up being torn apart by one those monsters. Kate pressed her hand against a tree, leaning against it, taking in a deep breath as she looked forward. Her mouth watered as she saw a creek ahead. The only problem was that she was standing on a cliff that looked over the water. Kate stepped forward a step to see if there was a way to descend down to the creek, her throat crying out in thirst. She took another step forward and then yelled out, much to the protest of her aching throat as she stepped too far and the rocks gave out underneath her.

Kate slipped down the slope of the cliff, her clothes getting caught on twigs and rocks scratching her skin. She pulled out her knife and dug it into the cliff, attempting to stop her fall, but she was going too fast. When the knife caught on a rock, the knife flung out of the cliff, falling into the abyss and Kate continued to slide down the slope, eventually transforming into a violent roll. Her temple bumped against the sharp edge of a rock and she was unconscious before she even reached the bottom of the cliff.

Kate landed next to the creek, part of her hair running in the current of the water. Someone walked towards her and dragged her towards the bottom of the cliff into the shade.

About an hour later, Kate opened her eyes, her vision blurred at first. She reached up and felt her head. It was previously bleeding, but someone had stopped the bleeding and cleaned the wound. She looked around and saw someone sitting near the creek in front of her. She located her knife near her head from when she fell and gripped the hilt, silently getting up and creeping towards them. She was grateful to them for saving her life, but they needed to know that she was not to be taken advantage of. Plus, it was so long since she saw a living person..She wanted to rob them and find out where they were camped.

As Kate was about to bring her arm down on their skull with the hilt of the knife, they turned around, grabbed her wrist and twisted it so that she fell face down onto the ground. She felt them put their knees in the middle of her back so she couldn't get up. As she struggled to break free, a familiar voice spoke, "Might be able to sneak up on most, lil' sister, but ya should already know that ya can' do that with me." He leaned in closer, "I know your every move," he whispered. Kate relaxed as she figured out who it was. "Daryl?!"

He raised his knee off of her and helped her get up. "Long time no see, lil' sister."

Kate got up, her emotions a mix between anger, shock, and happiness. She smacked him in the arm, "Where have you been?! I thought you were dead!"

Daryl winced, which was shocking to Kate, since she knew her brother as someone who would laugh at her for how weak her punches were. She didn't think he'd actually wince. Her eyes darted down to his side where an arrow was impaled through his side. "Holy-"

"Don' worry 'bout it." Daryl said, seeing Kate staring at the arrow.

Kate gave him an incredulous look. "What the hell are ya doin' runnin' around the woods with a fuckin' arrow in your back?! Go sit," she pointed at the ground, "I'll get it out." Kate grabbed her knife which she dropped during her fight with Daryl and cut a hole around the wound in his shirt so the arrow wouldn't get snagged on it. She used the knife to whittle off parts of the arrow until she was able to break it in half. "Pull the front out, it should come out easily." When she saw Daryl hesitate to pull the arrow out she moved in front of him and yanked the front out.

"Ah! You fuckin' bitch," he complained.

"When you'd become such a puss, bro?" She smirked at him before placing the broken arrow into her quiver; she'd make do with it later. Kate examined his wound, frowning. She tied a piece of cloth around his waist, "I ain' no doctor, but this should do…For a while." She looked around at the cliff. "Gon' be a bitch to climb."

"It's been a bitch to climb. Fell down already-" He turned and saw two Walkers headed towards them. Kate put her arm out to the side, holding him back.

"I got this." Kate stepped forward and grabbed two arrows out of her quiver and notched them. "So long, geeks." She released the string and sent the arrows flying straight through each of their foreheads. She walked forward to retrieve the arrows, looking up at the cliff that they were set to climb. She sighed, looking back at Daryl. "C'mon, we got a long way to go before we get to the top, and it's already late." Her backpack was lost from the fall, but she ignored that. What was important now was getting to the top. She looked back at Daryl, he had gone and made a necklace of ears from the Walkers that Kate had previously killed. He took his knife out of his holster and sat down, cutting into the stomach of a squirrel, eating it raw. "Want some?"

Kate looked at him and shook her head. "Fuckin' gross."


End file.
